A New York judge on Thursday ordered President Trump to pay $2 million in damages for misusing funds from a tax-exempt charity — taking the charity’s money to pay debts for his for-profit businesses, to boost his 2016 campaign and to buy a painting of himself, according to court documents.
That order, from state Judge Saliann Scarpulla, settled a lawsuit filed against Trump last year by the New York attorney general.
It marked an extraordinary moment: The president of the United States acknowledged in a court filing that he had failed to follow basic laws about how charities should be governed. Previously, Trump had insisted the charity was run properly and the suit was a partisan sham.
View the complete November 7 article by David A. Fahrenthold and Joshua Partlow on The Washington Post website here.